A beginner's guide to 'Doctor Who'

Monday

Aug 5, 2013 at 6:43 PMAug 5, 2013 at 6:57 PM

Around mid-day Sunday, a lot of people checked their Facebook feed to discover it was pretty much engulfed by one piece of news. No, we're not talking about the impending sale of the T&G and the Boston Globe … we're referring to the announcement of a new Doctor, the lead character on the long-running British sci-fi drama “Doctor Who.”

The new lead, Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, will be taking over the role from English actor Matt Smith, with the transition between the actors happening on this year's Christmas special, airing Christmas Day in the U.S. on BBC America, which will mark not only the end of Smith's tenure in the role, but also of the show's 50th year. Fans of the show, or at least folks conversant in either British television or science fiction, greeted the news with a mix of enormous joy, grave disappointment and just about everything in-between. Those caught in the crossfire of the collective Internet freakout reacted with a collective “huh?”

For them, we offer a quick guide to catching up with “Doctor Who,” if only so you don't have to stare glassy eyed at some of your friends when they ramble on about it. (Like we mentioned, this is the show's 50th anniversary, so there will likely be a lot of that from here on out.)

Who is Doctor Who? There is no Doctor Who. The character's name is The Doctor. He's an alien from the planet Gallifrey and the last surviving member of a race called The Time Lords. He can travel through time and space at will in a spaceship-time machine called the TARDIS, which for various reasons we can't get into here, is disguised as a police box.

What's a police box? It was basically a large phone booth that British police used as a sort of “remote station” back in the '60s. The TARDIS, however, is considerably larger on the inside than it is on the outside, so it's not as cramped as you might think.

Peter Capaldi will be the 12th Doctor. Is this, like, a James Bond sort of thing? Not really. One of the cleverest of the show's innovations is that when The Doctor dies, he's able to regenerate into a completely new person. It's a bit traumatic for him, and he's never exactly the same afterward, but the character Capaldi is playing is the same one William Hartnell played in the very first episode in 1963, making the entire 50-year run of the show one long story.

I don't have time to catch up on 50 years of TV. Can you bring me up to speed on the plot That would be daunting, even for us. Thankfully, comedians the Fine Brothers have a video explaining the first 47 years of the show in 6 minutes. It actually hits the major plot points pretty well:

That's remarkably helpful! Is there any way you can cover that in song? Funny you should ask! Late-night TV comedian Craig Ferguson did just that on “The Late Late Show” just a couple of years ago:

OK. I'm actually more confused now. Do I have to watch all 50 years to understand the show? Not at all! In fact, we wouldn't recommend delving into anything before the 2005 relaunch, starring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor. You can go back to the early episodes when you have a grasp on the concept, and have a strong enough stomach for '60s production values and the unnerving racial and gender tropes of earlier eras. Really, they can be kind of unsettling if you're unprepared. Honestly, you can jump on pretty easily from any Doctor's first full episode. Matt Smith's 11th Doctor began with 2010's “The 11th Hour,” so that's probably the easiest jumping-on point, unless you want to wait until next year.

I'm ambitious! What if I want a taste of some of the early episodes? Such bravery should be rewarded. The very first episode, “The Unearthly Child,” is fairly brilliant, and introduces The Doctor, his granddaughter, Susan (long gone from the show), and two of her Earthling school teachers whom the Doctor sort of actually kidnaps. Another great one is 1979's “City of Death,” which features the fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, and is set in then-contemporary Paris. It was co-written by “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” author Douglas Adams, and “Monty Python” star John Cleese makes an appearance!

Oh. Wait. So this is funny? Because I thought it was a drama. Each episode of “Doctor Who” is set in a different type of genre. Some are hilarious, some are terrifying. There have been pirate stories and Westerns, detective stories and at least one instance of dinosaurs on a spaceship. You never really know what you're going to get until you're watching, which is part of the fun.

Ah. I see. So are there any episodes from the ninth or 10th Doctors I should sample? The first episode of the relaunch, “Rose,” sets everything up immensely well, and is a great, self-contained story, and the two-part episode “The Empty child” and “The Doctor Dances,” both set in World War II, are great instances of horror and swashbuckling adventure. The 10th Doctor episode “Blink,” starring David Tennant in the title role, is probably the creepiest episode of the 50-year run (and introduces a young Carrey Mulligan!) and the 10th Doctor two–parter “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood,” set before World War I, is a great survey of what makes the character both sad and compelling.

Sad, you say? I have vague memories of Tom Baker in a wacky scarf, eating jelly-bellies. What a fine memory you have! Yes, the character can often have an antic disposition, but — especially in recent years — there's been some focus on how terribly alone a thousand-year-old near-immortal can be, especially when he's the last of his race. Some heavy stuff, but it's been compelling drama.

Who would win in a fight, The Doctor or Wolverine? Oh, yeah. We should have mentioned that earlier … As intimated in the Craig Ferguson video above, The Doctor is actually sort of a pacifist. Whenever possible, he tries to end conflicts and resolve situations peacefully, through talk or, if necessary, through science. Of course, even The Doctor doesn't always get what he wants, but on the whole, he doesn't resolve conflicts with guns or fisticuffs.

Uhm … A pacifist-scientist-action hero, and it's not boring? Nope. In fact, it's kind of refreshing in the bullet-strewn action-adventure genre.

All right. I'll give it a chance. How do I start? The entire relaunched series, and a great deal of the original episodes, are all available on Netflix streaming, and episodes from the relaunched series rerun on BBC America with a great deal of regularity.

Am I going to regret this? Err … maybe. I don't know you well enough to say. You might hate it. But on the other hand, you might become completely addicted, and lose hours of your life mainlining episodes from the '60s and '70s.

So … yes, I'm going to regret this? Stop being so negative! It's only a TV show. But if it turns out it is your cup of tea (so to speak), then it's an immensely rewarding TV experience. You'll never know until you watch. (Victor D. Infante)